Impromptu Love
by Cara Potter
Summary: This is a "remake" of "Ready for a High School Romance". This story should be almost completely different however. It still has the same couples, but with KelsixJason added. [KelsixJason] [TroyxGabriella] [OCxRyan] I hope you all enjoy the story!
1. Chapter 1

Okay, so this is my second try at writing a story. Let me know what you guys think!

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I sighed as I tried to find my way around the school. I was regretting not letting Troy show me around now. I stopped near the edge of the hallway and looked up. When I saw Chad through the thinning crowd, I hurried to him. I was almost near him when someone blocked my path. I sighed when I saw it was Sharpay Evans, the girl who had a crush on Troy.

"What do you want, Sharpay? I'm going to be late for class," I told her.

"Let me take you to your class," she said sweetly.

"My first class isn't with Troy," I said.

"Listen, Gweneth, if I show you around so you don't get lost and act nicely the entire time, maybe we'll run into Troy and I can show him that I care about someone other than myself."

"It won't work that way. He'd be angry that I let you show me around after he offered multiple times after the adoption was finalized."

"Sharpay, what are you doing?" Troy asked, coming up to us and slinging his arm around my shoulder protectively.

"I was just offering to take your sister around the school," Sharpay said with a charming smile.

"We got it from here, thanks," Chad said, coming up to the other side of me and placing his arm around my middle.

"Guys, I can handle myself," I protested as they dragged me away.

"You got lost," Troy accused me, glaring over his shoulder at me.

"Only for a little bit. You know I can't read maps," I muttered, looking down.

"Hey, that wasn't your fault, princess. You were too young to read a map," Chad told me, squeezing me with his arm that was still around my middle.

When I was younger, my birth parents and I went on a vacation to somewhere we had never been before. My parents thought I was old enough to read a map, but I didn't know what it all meant and I told my parents to take a wrong turn and we ended up going onto the highway, only we were going the wrong way. Before my parents could get turned around, a car hit us head on and we spun off the road.

My parents died while the cops where on the way. I was trapped in the back. The passengers in the car that hit us were fine. Turned out they were drunk. When the paramedics got me out of the car they asked if I had anyone else who could possibly take me in for a little while. I told them about my mom's best friend, Mrs. Bolton. While the cops called her, one of the paramedics checked me over. I had a broken arm and leg. I didn't feel the pain though. I was still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that my parents were dead and I was the reason.

"Princess?" Chad asked softly, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"I'm sorry," I whispered, feeling the tears fall down my face.

"Don't be, Gwen. It's not your fault," Troy said, pulling me to his chest.

I just leaned against him, trying to stop crying. After the accident, I never tried to learn how to read a map. I couldn't. I should've taken Troy up on his offer to show me around.

"Is she okay?" a quiet voice said from beside me and Troy.

"Yeah, Kelsi, she's alright," Troy answered.

"What's wrong?" Kelsi asked, placing her hand on my back.

"Too much stress," Troy said.

"It's nothing," I muttered.

I could still feel Kelsi's hand on my back. I turned to look at her. She looked a little bit like my mom, I realized. I pushed Troy away slightly to get a good look at Kelsi. She had the same presence my mom had: calming.

"You remind me of my mom," I told her quietly.

"I'm sure your mom is much beautiful than I am," Kelsi said with a shake of her head.

"My mom's dead," I mumbled.

"Oh, sweetheart. I'm so sorry!" Kelsi exclaimed before hugging me.

When I looked over her shoulder, I saw a guy that looked a little like Sharpay. I smiled at him slightly and he smiled back. I couldn't help but feel my heart swell at the sight. He was gorgeous when he smiled! I almost protested when he turned away, but knew he had to get to class. Kelsi let me go and linked arms with me. I smiled at her, a little shyly. I never had a friend that was a girl before, and I told her that.

"Well, now you do," she told me as she led me to my class.

I was extremely grateful that it turned out that I had Sharpay's gorgeous twin brother in my first hour. Kelsi sat beside me and told me everyone's name. When she got to Ryan, Sharpay's brother, she stopped and looked at me.

"Oh, are you starting to like Ryan?" she asked me excitedly.

"Don't be daft! I hardly know him," I said, blushing.

"Hey, you must be new here. I'm Ryan Evans," Ryan said, sliding up to me and holding out his hand.

"I'm Gweneth Avery-Bolton," I replied, taking his hand and shaking it before letting go.

"Bolton? I didn't know Troy had a sister," Ryan said, sitting on my other side.

"I was...adopted by them," I told him.

"Oh. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up bad memories," he said, placing his hand on mine.

"No, it's fine. You didn't know."

"Gweneth-," Ryan started, but I cut him off.

"Please, call me Gwen," I told him, smiling.

And that was how I made my two best friends on my first day of school. Of course, I didn't realize that Ryan had an ulterior motive to becoming my best friend.

* * *

This took me a total of, at least, thirty minutes so I'm sorry if there are any errors.


	2. Chapter 2

Look! A second chapter on the same day! It's a new record! I hope you guys are liking this... I know it's probably weird, but I can continue this plot I hope! I'll post two more chapters tomorrow, I swear!  
Also, I'm sorry for any errors, spelling or grammar wise. I don't have a beta reader yet...

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I should've known Sharpay would make me do the hard work for her. I knew she wouldn't want to do the job of being nice to Troy's adopted sister. She wouldn't want to seem human. She also didn't want Troy to be mad at her once his sister was heart broken. I sighed as I sat at a table, waiting for Gwen and Kelsi to come sit with me.

"Sorry," Gwen apologized as she sat down across from me with Kelsi sitting next to her and Kelsi's boyfriend, Jason, sitting beside Kelsi.

"Jason caught up to Kels in the halls and made us a little late."

"It's fine," I said, smiling charmingly at Gwen.

"Gwen!" I heard Troy call across the cafeteria angrily.

"What?" Gwen asked, shrinking back a little.

"What are you doing?" Troy asked, stalking up to our table.

"I'm having lunch with my friends," Gwen answered a little hesitantly, not sure why Troy was so mad.

"Since when is he," Troy hissed, pointing at me, "your friend?"

"Since first hour, Bolton," I snapped, not liking the way Gwen was looking heart broken now.

"Stay out of this, Evans," Troy threatened.

"No. I'm sticking up for your sister who looks very close to crying just because you're raising your voice at her. So much for being the big brother she looks up to," I ground out, wondering why I was trying so hard to protect Gwen from more pain when I'm just going to be dealing more than Troy is later.

Gwen sniffled and turned to hide her face in Kelsi's neck. That's when Troy snapped out of his little mood.

"Oh, Gwen, I'm so sorry-," Troy started, but Kelsi glared at him.

"Just get out of here, Bolton. I can't believe you even consider yourself her brother," she snapped.

Once Troy left, Gwen sighed deeply before turning away and gathering her stuff and leaving. I tried to grab her wrist, but she jerked it away and practically ran out of the cafeteria. Troy stood up and made to go after, but Chad grabbed him and pulled him down.

"Listen here, Evans," Kelsi started, glaring at me.

"What?" I asked, shocked.

"I don't know what you're up to, but I'm not going to let you do it. She's too nice for you to mess with. Either back off now, or I'll make it so you and Sharpay don't get into any more plays," Kelsi threatened.

Oh, Lord, what do I do? Kelsi turned into a mother hen for Gwen. If I am able to convince her that I just like Gwen as a person and want to make her happy, I'll still be lying and it'll break both Gwen and Kelsi's heart. Kelsi because she believed I was actually trying to do good for her friend and Gwen because...well, I saw first hand just how fragile she was. How could I build her up just to break her down again?

I was saved from actually making a decision by the bell. I held in my sigh of relief and headed to the drama room. I glared at Sharpay as I entered. She smiled at me, oblivious to my inner turmoil. As I sat next to her, she started bombarding me with questions.

"So? How's it going? Have you convinced her to get Troy to ask me out? How did she look when she realized you were just using her to get to Troy? Was she heart broken?"

Hearing the obvious cheerfulness in her voice broke me. I couldn't use Gwen. I wouldn't use her for my sister's stupid plan. She was too fragile for that. That would probably push her into the suicide area and I wouldn't want that on my head. Funny how the threat Kelsi gave me meant nothing in comparison to the feeling of guilt I felt when thinking of how heart broken Gwen would look when I told her I was just using her for Sharpay's sick and twisted plot...but I also couldn't just turn my back on my sister.

"Give me time. I need to get her to trust me before I can do anything."

I had no intention of mentioning that I wasn't going do what she asked of me, however. As class started, I wondered how long I could keep up the charade of being 'the obedient brother' and 'the best friend' before I snapped and became neither...

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Whoa! Drama! Haha, sorry. :)


	3. Chapter 3

I feel like this jumps around a lot, but it kind of has to, honestly. Well, I hope you guys like it anyway!

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I huffed as I sat down at the lunch table beside Kelsi. Kelsi giggled at me and reached up to playfully ruffle my hair. I smiled at her before moving out of her reach and reaching down to open my bag and take out some homework. I started with math homework, since I struggle with it and Kelsi can usually help me.

"Math?" I heard Ryan ask.

"Yeah," I answered, scrunching up my nose in distaste.

"What is it this time?" Kelsi asked.

"Solving linear equations," I said.

"Oh, that's easy," Ryan said.

"Yeah, maybe for a genius," I muttered.

Ryan just chuckled and grabbed my worksheet. As he looked it over, I glanced at Kelsi. She was already looking at me with a frown and I tilted my head slightly. She didn't seem to like Ryan very much and I didn't understand why. He seemed like a nice enough guy to me...

"It should be fairly easy, Gwen," Ryan said, breaking my thought process.

"Well, yeah, sure, if you pay attention in class," I retorted.

"Oh, little miss Goody Gwen doesn't pay attention in class?" Ryan asked teasingly.

"Who said I was Goody Gwen?" I asked.

"A lot of people," Kelsi told me.

"Seriously? Why?"

"You don't ever do anything bad," Ryan answered.

"So? A lot of people don't do anything bad."

"Gwen, sweetie, you don't even loiter in the halls," Kelsi informed me.

"Of course I don't. I want to hurry to class so I can sit in the back and sleep."

"Oh, so you sleep in class?" Ryan asked.

"Every single one when I can," I answered honestly.

"And you still have straight A's?" Kelsi asked me incredulously.

I just shrugged and started to try to work on my math. Kelsi ate her food while helping me when I needed it. Ryan ate silently, lost in thought. When the bell for our next class rang, Ryan hung behind to walk with me since we had the same class. I smiled gratefully at him and he smiled back slightly. Once we had started walking, I decided to find out why Kelsi seemed to hate him.

"Ryan?" I asked.

"Yeah?" he replied.

"Why doesn't Kelsi seem to like you?"

"W-What?" Ryan asked, turning to look at me.

"Well, she doesn't seem to trust you, I guess I should say."

"Oh, well...She's very protective of you, so I guess she doesn't want me to...you know, become "involved" with you and then break your heart," Ryan said, turning away and looking at the opposite side of the hall.

"I'm not fragile," I said, offended.

"She thinks you are," Ryan whispered.

I huffed and frowned. Nothing in the way Kelsi acted around me when we were alone suggested that there was a hint of truth in Ryan's words. Something was going on that I didn't know. I decided to ask Kelsi about it after school. Maybe she would be truthful with me.

When the last bell rang, I sprung out of my seat and hurried to Kelsi's locker. Jason was leaning against the wall next to her and I attacked Kelsi in a hug. She yelped before laughing. Jason smiled and rolled his eyes at us. I let go of Kelsi and allowed her to grab what she needed before bombarding her with my questions.

"Kels?" I asked.

"Yeah?" she replied, tilting her head so I knew she was listening to me.

"Why do you not like Ryan?"

"What makes you think I don't like him?"

"The way you glare at him when he's not even doing anything."

"Oh..."

As Kelsi continued to gather her stuff I realized she wouldn't tell me.

"Do you think I'm fragile?" I asked, changing the subject slightly.

"No, not at all," Kelsi said immediately.

"Then why won't you tell me the truth? I can handle it. I'm a big girl."

"Gwen," Jason said, catching my attention.

"What?" I asked him.

"I think Kelsi's just trying to protect you. Not because she thinks your fragile, but because she doesn't want you to feel more pain than necessary."

"I don't trust Ryan," Kelsi said after a few moments of silence.

"What? Why?" I asked.

"Sharpay is his sister and he doesn't really have a backbone when it comes to her, plus she'd do anything to get at Troy."

"So..." I started as I put two and two together, "You think Sharpay is using Ryan to use me to use Troy?"

"Not exactly. I think she's using Ryan to get to you."

"What?"

"I think she wants Ryan to break your heart so Troy will go after Ryan. Sharpay will step up, defend her brother and hope Troy falls in love with her," Kelsi said as if it all made sense.

"That doesn't make sense," Jason and I told her in unison.

"Well, either way we need to make sure her plan fails," Kelsi said.

"How do we do that?" I asked, anticipating the answer.

"We make him fall in love with you."

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Next chapter is going to be going forward to Christmas Break...Also, Gabriella will be making her appearance in the next chapter. Stay tuned!


	4. Chapter 4

Yeah, I know. The pacing sucks, but I tried. I'll get better at pacing, I hope.

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When I woke up, I looked at my phone and noticed I had missed several texts and calls from Kelsi and a couple of texts from Ryan. Deciding that Kelsi was more important at the moment, I sat up and pressed two on speed dial and let it ring as I woke up a little more. I pulled the phone away from my ear, anticipating Kels yelling into the receiver.

"Why did you not answer my calls earlier?" she yelled.

"I was sleeping," I answered simply.

"No matter, what are you doing New Years?" she asked excitedly.

"The Boltons are going to go to a party and I might be forced to go with them, why?"

"My parents agreed I could have a party and invite some people! Automatically I thought of you, Jason and maybe even Ryan so we can continue the plan to make Ryan fall for you so you don't get broken hearted."

"Kels, breathe. I'll ask if I can go. Don't get disappointed if I can't."

"I won't. Promise."

I sighed as I hung up. I didn't want to go downstairs yet so I checked the texts from Ryan. They basically just said text me back when you wake up. So I texted him a 'hey' and waited for a reply as I got dressed. Once I was dressed, I headed downstairs and into the kitchen where Mrs. Bolton was.

"Mom," I started, ignoring the weird feeling of calling someone else mom.

"Oh, Gwen, you're up," Mrs. Bolton said, smiling at me.

"I just got up. Kelsi wants to know if I can go to her house for a party on New Years," I said, heading to the fridge to get something to drink.

"Well...I guess so. Troy will be slightly disappointed, but he'll get over it," Mrs. Bolton told me.

"What are you making, mom?"

"Oh, just some snacks for Troy, Chad and your father. They're outside trying to play basketball, as always," she said, shaking her head.

I laughed and headed into the living room. I flopped onto the couch and checked my phone. I had a text from both Kels and Ryan. I decided to read Ryan's first this time. Since Kels started the plan of making Ryan try to fall in love with me, Ryan and I grew closer. I still hadn't found any evidence that supported or refuted Kelsi's accusations that Ryan was just using me, but I kept my guard up anyway.

'Hey, what are you doing New Years?' Ryan's text said.

I sighed as I told him that I was going to Kelsi's and he was invited to go as well. While waiting for a reply, I texted Kelsi, not even bothering to read her text, to let her know that I would be going to her party. She called me immediately afterwards and squealed for a full minute in my ear before she went off on the plans she had for the party. I would go over to her house tomorrow to help her get everything ready for that night and then she would do my hair and I wouldn't even bother with make-up. She would let me borrow one of her dresses and blah, blah, blah.

When my phone beeped with a message, I put Kels on speaker and checked the message. It was from Ryan, telling me that he would be able to go to Kels's party. I relayed the info to Kelsi when she paused to take a breath and listened to her cheer as "everything was going according to plan!"

"Kelsi, I'm going to let you go because Troy, Chad and Mr. Bolton are sure to be coming in soon and I don't want to be seen and dragged outside to referee a game in this weather," I told her as I heard footsteps heading towards the front door.

"Okay! Come over as soon as possible tomorrow. We need to go shopping for some decorations and some party favors and maybe some accessories for your dress!" she said, sounding excited.

"Okay, Kels. I'll be over as soon as I wake up," I told her.

The next day, I was up at eight. I sighed as I got up, got dressed and headed downstairs. I asked Mrs. Bolton if she would take me to Kelsi's and smiled as I got a yes. I put on my coat, gloves, scarf and hat and headed out to the car as Mrs. Bolton grabbed her coat and keys. When Mrs. Bolton and I were in the car, she asked me what Kelsi and I were going to do.

"She's inviting Ryan and Jason over and we're just going to hang out, I guess. We don't really have any other friends since Troy's going with you guys and the basketball team will probably just play basketball," I answered.

She nodded as we pulled up to Kels's and she told me to be safe. I smiled at her and nodded. I got out of the car and headed up to Kelsi's door and knocked once before entering, having been here so often her family wouldn't be that surprised. Kelsi was waiting in the living room for me and jumped up when she saw me.

"Okay, so the only downside is that for all of our shopping, we're going to have to walk," Kels told me.

"Well, at least you live closer to some stores than I do," I said.

"Kelsi, at least let Gwen set her stuff down," her mom called.

"She has a drawer of everything she needs here, mom," Kelsi called back.

I smiled and shook my head. The only reason I had a drawer here is because I left some things everytime I came over. I eventually just stopped bring stuff and just reused what I left here.

"Oh. Well, let me say hello to her in person," her mom demanded.

I smiled as I headed into the kitchen. Kelsi's mom was really a nice lady and she was an excellent baker. I grabbed a cupcake and smiled at her as I took a bite.

"Hello, dear," Kelsi's mom greeted me.

"Hey," I returned after I swallowed my bite of cupcake.

Kelsi made an impatient sound and her mom sighed and made a shooing gesture playfully. I laughed as Kelsi grabbed my wrist and dragged me out of the house. We went to all the stores she wanted to go to and then headed to a store I wanted to go to, which sold different kinds of music and instruments. Kelsi bought some CD's for the party and I bought a CD for myself with some of my Christmas funds.

Once we had everything bought, we headed back to Kelsi's empty house. Her parents had left about thirty minutes after we had. Kelsi and I immediately set about decorating and setting up the music. Once we were done, it was about three in the afternoon. We went to go get ready in Kelsi's room while chatting.

"What if we don't get Ryan to fall in love with me?" I asked suddenly.

"Then he doesn't know what he's missing. I'm in love with you," Kelsi said playfully.

"Haha, very funny, Kels. I'm serious!"

"So am I. He doesn't know what he's going to miss when you move on."

I sighed and let her change the subject to something else while she picked out the dress she wanted me to wear to help with her plan of making Ryan fall for me. I laughed as she made jokes and acted like a fool, but deep in my mind I kept wondering what would happen if Ryan never fell for me.

A few hours later and the party was in full swing. Troy had texted me earlier, saying he had sung with a beautiful girl and then later sending me a picture of the girl. Turns out her name is Gabriella Montez. I teased him for falling in love at first sight and I never got a text back. As it neared midnight, Ryan and I were slow dancing. I gulped as Kelsi and Jason and Ryan started counting down. Kelsi and I agreed that I would kiss Ryan once it reached midnight, but I was really close to just backing out. When Ryan reached two, I sighed as I started leaning towards him. Immediately after he reached zero, I pressed my lips to his and had my very first New Years kiss and my very first kiss that I felt the metaphorical sparks everyone talks about when they kiss their "soul-mate."

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I know, I know. Gabriella is only mentioned in passing, but she'll appear for sure in the next chapter. I swear.


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